


Happy Snoggletog, Valka

by lesbianpapyrus



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Snoggletog (How to Train Your Dragon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 23:37:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15230547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianpapyrus/pseuds/lesbianpapyrus
Summary: Three years have passed since Valka was taken away from Stoick, but he soon realizes that in some ways, she's still there.





	Happy Snoggletog, Valka

Three years.

It had been three years since Valka had been taken. Three years since she had disappeared from Stoick’s life. Three years since Hiccup had had a mother.

Stoick could still hear Valka’s shouts, Hiccup’s cries, the dragon’s roar as it carried off his wife to who knows where. He still remembered the pounding of his heart as he watched her, unable to save her from a horrible fate, and the condolences of the villagers a few days later.

He still remembered their song, the song he even now sung to his tiny son as a lullaby.

Normally he could put the thoughts out of his mind, as he was busy chiefing and fighting off dragons. But the dragons always disappeared this time of year, which lessened his duties, and so on these quiet nights before Snoggletog, he had all too much time for unbidden thoughts to enter his consciousness.

He sat before the fire, unable to get her out of his mind. His heart seemed to be torn in two. He sighed as he leaned forward, head in his left hand.

Stoick started as he heard a thump from upstairs. Wondering if a lone dragon had been stupid enough to land on the house in search of food, he got up and crept toward the staircase.

His fears were unfounded as a tiny red-haired boy stood at the top. “Good mowning, Daddy!” he shouted.

Stoick couldn’t help but smile as his three-year-old son turned to come down the stairs on his knees. “What are you doing up, Hiccup?” he asked as he picked up the boy around the waist. “It isn’t morning. It’s nearly midnight!”

Hiccup squealed as he was lifted into the air. Twisting around, he grabbed hold of his father’s beard. “Why isn’t it mowning, Daddy?”

“Well, the sun’s not out, and everyone is going to bed. You need to, too,” Stoick answered, as he carried Hiccup over to the fire, planning to rock him to sleep.

Hiccup laughed and squirmed out of Stoick’s arms before he could react, running to hide under the table. “Can’t catch me!”

Despite himself, Stoick smiled again and walked slowly toward the table, pretending not to see his son. “Where could Hiccup be?” he wondered aloud. “He’s obviously not under the table…”

Hiccup giggled as Stoick ambled right past the table leg he was hiding behind. He started to look for another place to conceal himself, failing to notice his father quietly doubling back to sneak up on him.

“Gotcha!” he cried, snatching Hiccup back into his arms.

Hiccup screamed, nearly deafening Stoick, and kicked ferociously. “No! No! You’re not s’posed to catch me!” he screeched angrily.

Stoick’s humor proved to be short-lived as Hiccup continued to kick. “All right, Hiccup, that’s enough,” Stoick sighed exasperatedly.

“No! Leggo!” Hiccup demanded.

“Hiccup…!” Stoick grunted as the toddler hit him in the face, resulting in his father nearly dropping him.

All at once, the horrible feelings Stoick had been keeping back for so long erupted in the form of anger and fear at almost injuring his son. “HICCUP! _STOP RIGHT NOW!”_ he bellowed.

Hiccup stopped his tantrum, but only to stare at his father with large, frightened, tear-filled eyes and a trembling lower lip.

Stoick knew he’d gone too far. He immediately regretted everything he’d just done as Hiccup began to cry. Cradling the boy against his chest, the Viking chieftain sat over by the fire again and stroked his hair. “Shhh, Hiccup, I’m sorry, Daddy’s sorry, Daddy won’t yell again…”

It took a good five minutes at least to get Hiccup’s cries down to whimpers, and even then he wouldn’t look his father in the face. Stoick placed two fingers under his son’s chin and gently lifted Hiccup’s head.

Stoick felt positively awful about his burst of anger, and that awful feeling was only heightened when he saw that the fright had not yet left Hiccup’s eyes, nor had his shaking stopped. “Hiccup…I’m sorry, Daddy isn’t going to yell again, I promise.”

The boy was still scared—Stoick could tell—but he snuggled into his father’s beard a little more willingly. Stoick leaned forward slightly to kiss the fuzzy locks of red hair that grew over Hiccup’s forehead, swearing that from now on, he would keep his feelings in check. He never wanted to scare his son like this ever again.

Eventually Hiccup’s sniffles subsided and he began to nod off. Stoick continued to stroke his hair and rub his back to help him go to sleep.

Suddenly Hiccup’s head popped up. “Can you sing the song, Daddy?”

Stoick shook his head; he’d almost fallen asleep himself. “Song, what song?”

“The song! The seas an’ drowning an’ gold rings an’ po-try?”

“Oh…yes, that one, of course.” Stoick was surprised Hiccup could recall all that, as he had really only sung it to him as a baby and not nearly as much lately. But anyway, he began to sing.

“I’ll swim and sail on savage seas…”

Hiccup smiled and yawned as sleep quickly caught up to him; he was out before the song was over.

Stoick was glad, as that meant Hiccup couldn’t see his father’s tears as he finished. All this song was doing was painfully reminding him of the promise he didn’t keep. _I will keep you from all harm._

Snoggletog was tomorrow. It would be the third one without Valka, and it was all because he couldn’t protect her.

Another tear fell as Stoick looked upon Hiccup’s sleeping face. He could already tell the boy would take after his mother. The long, thin face and skinny arms and legs—well, skinny for a three-year-old, at least—made that obvious.

Stoick leaned down and kissed that red hair again—the only thing Hiccup seemed to have inherited from his father so far. That and his emerald green eyes. Eyes full of wonder and amazement regardless of the bleak, bland world he lived in. Much like his mother’s eyes had been.

Maybe Hiccup had inherited his mother’s eyes after all.

_Maybe Valka isn’t gone._

The thought struck him like a thunderbolt. What? That was ridiculous. Of course Valka was gone, carried off by that…that blasted four-winged dragon, the one he’d sworn to kill at all costs and had never seen since that fateful night.

_She lives through Hiccup._

Hiccup?

He looked down at the sleeping boy cradled in his arms. Hiccup’s mouth was slightly open, face turned to the side, his breathing deep and even. Valka used to sleep the same way.

Never had his son looked so much like her.

Tears spilled over again as Stoick looked out the window and realized that the placement of the moon meant it was midnight. Snoggletog. The third one without Valka.

No, Valka was here. She had never left.

“Happy Snoggletog, Hiccup,” Stoick whispered.

_Happy Snoggletog, Valka._

**Author's Note:**

> more old httyd fics. I actually went back and edited this one because the baby talk dialogue I originally wrote was uh. kinda cringey. hopefully it's better now.


End file.
